Worcester Lion Dance champions tapped for celebration in Maryland

Thursday

2017, the Year of the Rooster, is turning out to be an auspicious one for the Worcester Imperial Lion Dance Team.

Chuc Mung Nam Moi! Happy New Year!

With Lunar New Year in full swing for the next two weeks, the team has been invited to perform its unique style of dancing and athleticism all over the city, in Boston and beyond.

The lions chase away bad spirits to clear the way for a new year of health, happiness and prosperity. Gifts of food and good-luck red envelopes are given to them for a job well done during the performance. If one is lucky, the lion will bite you on the head (gently) for extra good luck; he will also let you rub his head, also a mark of good fortune to come.

The four-time New England Lion Dance Competition champions are traveling to Maryland’s MGM National Harbor resort. The $1.4 billion casino and entertainment center opened its doors Dec. 8 last year and invited the lion dance team to help celebrate its first Lunar New Year on Feb. 3.

The team is excited to be making the trip and have created new dance steps, acrobatic leaps, and its specialty: gravity-defying leaps and turns from high poles.

Head coach Hung Ngo says that nine lions will be performing to the accompaniment of five drummers and cymbalists. He has choreographed a brand-new routine for the Maryland event, and the dance team has ramped up its practice for the past few weeks.

“Usually we practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but because it is the New Year season, we have been going all out and practicing every day,” said the 21-year-old coach, a senior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute studying for a degree in electrical engineering.

Born and raised in Worcester, Mr. Ngo saw the lion dance performed when he was a very young child. “At first it scared me, but I was always impressed at the tricks and stunts they could do. I love the sport and culture of it and I very much enjoy the faces of young kids, happy faces, when we perform,” he said. The coach has been a member of the team for over eight years and head coach for the last three.

The coach explained that the Imperial Lion Dance team’s style is derived from the southern Malaysian approach to the ancient art. “There is a lot more acrobatics and athleticism to it. To me, it is also a form of realism, the expressions of the lions — happy with tails wagging, or sad. We try to put all kinds of expressions in our different routines,” said Mr. Ngo.

One of the younger team members is Thomson Tranphi, 16. The North High School junior says that he has been training for three years.

“When I was 14 I went to the Moon Festival at the (Pho Hien) temple and saw the lions dance for the first time. It was truly amazing! Seeing it up close was just so different than seeing it on a video. I told a couple of my friends that we should join the team and we did,” said Thomson. He and his friends are still on the team.

Practices are held for three hours at Pho Hien Temple on Dewey Street. Conditioning, building stamina and learning the steps and routines are part and parcel of being on the team.

“We get it down solid and keep ourselves healthy,” Thomson said.

Mr. Ngo says yes about conditioning and stamina, but more about building a bond, a trust, motivation and good morale. “We all need to have trust in our partners, we all have to be on the same page,” he said of the complicated steps, leaps and acrobatic jumps. The ability to make the lion quiver, flap his ears to the beat of the drum, wag his tail and open and shut his mouth, and numerous other tricks to draw the audience into the joyfulness of the dance is also learned by practice, practice and more practice.

“I am so humbled by the invitation to MGM. I can’t imagine doing something so grand. The whole team does their best. We all share the same passion: we have pride in our team, like the Patriots. And it’s also a whole lot of fun,” said Mr. Ngo.

You can see the Imperial Lion Dance Team on YouTube.com/ImperialLionDance or visit www.nhuthanhgroup.com.

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